Bradley Takes a Detour Around Rose Bird Issue

The state Supreme Court issue, a continuing staple of his campaign announcement tour, greeted Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley over breakfast Wednesday.

And as he has done several times before in the two-day formal opening of his campaign for governor, the Democratic mayor sought to deflect the question and concentrate on the message he wants to deliver to Californians.

This time, the question came from a member of the audience. He asked what Bradley thought of Republican Gov. George Deukmejian’s appointments to the high court.

Rather than answer the question, Bradley replied, “Well, I think we need an independent judiciary. I’ve always supported that. That’s a concept upon which government is based.”

Then the mayor went on to add that he also favors requiring state Supreme Court justices to be confirmed by the voters every 12 years, a test California Chief Justice Rose Elizabeth Bird and other justices are facing this year.

“I support that concept,” he said. “The 12-year (provision) is the law in this state, and I support it. We just need to make it work.”

Asked later to amplify that comment, Bradley said he meant that the confirmation system has worked well since its inception and should not be changed.

The indirectness of the answer reflected the Bradley camp’s concerns over the court issue.

The mayor is under heavy pressure from Deukmejian, who is seeking reelection, to say whether he will support Bird. Deukmejian and others oppose the chief justice because they believe she has blocked implementation of the state’s death penalty law. Bird and other justices are up for confirmation by the voters in November.

Bradley, a death penalty advocate, supported Bird’s confirmation in 1978. Bird was on the ballot that year because it was the first election after her appointment. This time, she is up for reconfirmation for a full 12-year term.

Before his announcement tour began on Tuesday, Bradley’s aides had expressed concern that the Bird question would dominate the trip.

Some wanted him to announce his decision before the trip began, to get potentially bad political consequences behind him. A Los Angeles Times Poll showed that support of Bird could cost Bradley votes. Others counseled delay on the theory that the Bird controversy might cool off, easing the pressure on Bradley.

On the long President’s Day weekend, Bradley made the staff debate moot. He told Press Secretary Ali Webb and other aides that he still had not made up his mind. Webb said a decision was made at the time by Bradley and the staff to hold off until some time after the campaign announcement tour.

That left unsettled how to deal with reporters’ questions on Bird during the trip, when Bradley would be covered by a traveling press corps that included Los Angeles television stations, plus local TV outlets in Sacramento, San Francisco, San Jose, Fresno and San Diego. Aides did not want the Bird issue to dominate the trip.

A schedule was drawn up by campaign chairman Tom Quinn, campaign manager Mary Nichols and consultant David Townsend that neatly took care of the problem.

On Monday, when coverage would be the heaviest, Bradley hurried from event to event, not stopping for reporters’ questions all morning and into the afternoon.

Instead, he gave set speeches built around his campaign message, an attack on Deukmejian’s record on toxic waste control, plus a pledge to improve education and other services.

By midafternoon, the Los Angeles TV crews had sent their tapes back to their stations for the dinner-hour news. Stations in Sacramento and San Francisco had also completed their reports. None had an opportunity to catch Bradley with a Bird question.

Only when Bradley boarded the press bus after 3 p.m. did reporters get a chance to ask him about Bird.

The only answer he gave to repeated questions was that he would announce his decision “within 60 days.”

Questions persisted. “I have told you I will have a statement for you in 60 days,” said Bradley, seeming to grow exasperated.

Questions About Bird

Asked about the schedule and the delay in making himself available to answer questions about Bird, Bradley said, “I think any knowledgeable newsman would come to the same conclusion that I did, that he would want today to be centered around the announcement of his candidacy.”

As the questions continued, Bradley shed a bit more light on his attitude toward the judiciary.

He said “I think it would be preferable to have appellate court experience” before being appointed to the state Supreme Court. Bradley insisted that the comment was not a reference to Bird, who before her appointment to the Supreme Court by former Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. had no experience as a judge.

From Fresno, Bradley flew to San Diego for a speech at the Community Concourse and then took the campaign bus to the University of California, Irvine, for a speech at the University Club. His final scheduled stop of the night was a campaign party at the Palace in Hollywood.